5 Books That Changed My Life: Part 3

Hermann Hesse was a German poet and author who was born in 1877. Hesse was an antiwar activist during World War 1. During this time his first marriage ended in divorce and he turned his focus on the works of Freud. After some time he underwent analysis with Jung and was for some time a patient in a sanitarium.

In 1922, after several trips to India and the East, he was inspired to write a story based on the early life of Gautama Buddha. In this story, a Brahman’s son goes against his father’s teaching and his family’s traditions and embarks on a “…long spiritual quest for the answer to the enigma of man’s role on this earth.” This story was called “Siddhartha“.

“Siddhartha” is a book that was assigned to my English class in high school as required reading. Again, we were forced to read this novel in bite-sized chunks then we were expected to discuss and dissect the novel for a couple of months. Such is the curse of schools; taking excellent literary works and ruining them.

After I graduated I became focused on my curiosity about spirituality. I had read all manner of books on the subject, trying to find a solution I was comfortable with. Each time I read a new book, something kept telling me to read “Siddhartha” again. And so I did. I went to a bookstore after work one day and bought a paperback copy for $5.99. I read it during the course of 3 or 4 lunch breaks at work. When I was done, I read it again. I have lost count of the number of times I’ve read this book. I do, however, remember that I’ve had to buy three copies of the book because they keep getting borrowed or stolen and never returned. I take good care of my books, and so to think that I’ve lost two copies of such an excellent book is damn near inconceivable.

This book is a great read and the thing that really spoke to me was the seemingly basic ideal that there is no one path to take in life. While some may feel perfectly natural in the lap of luxury, others seek a more minimalist existence. While some dwell and make their livelihood revolve around material possessions and lusts of the flesh, others seek only to learn, wasting away in front of books long into the twilight hours. Each one of these paths is the right path - for the right person, that is.

“Siddhartha” was the book that nudged me along those first few, infinitely important steps of my own spiritual quest. When I was done reading the book, several times over the course of months, I felt comfortable questioning my spirituality. I was becoming more and more at peace with the thought that I didn’t know what I believed in.

While “Siddhartha” focuses largely on Buddhism and Hinduism, it is still an excellent read for those who are not seeking answers to questions of faith and simply want to read a good story. My quest hasn’t finished, and honestly, I don’t believe a search for these answers ever really comes to a close. But I do know this: what Hermann Hesse wrote over half a century ago still speaks to me like few written works do.

Related posts:

1. 5 Books That Changed My Life: Part 2
2. 5 Books That Changed My Life: Part 5
3. 5 Books That Changed My Life: Part 1
4. Books boggle my mind
5. The Orwell Prize

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